Wide Standing Desk

Description: I was just poking around one evening and I came across the motorized standing (adjustable height) desk for around $600. I knew about standing desks but I had no idea how beneficial they could be. I really wanted one but not a small desk for $600.

After a long search for a wide and inexpensive standing office desk, I have decided to combine the following items together: Main desk area is a Vika Amon Table Top 79″x 24″, legs are adjustable Vika Byske (5) – I was worried how sturdy these will be at 40″ high but they end up working out great.

Now I just needed to figure out a stand for my mac and a monitor. Voila Capita Braket and a Lack 75″x10″ wall shelf. Standing ergonomic table is done. Well thanks to my husband who put it all together for me.

I have also purchased Franklin 29″ bar chair to sit down when my legs get tired. $29 beats the $600 for the price of the motor to put the table up and down.

Today is day 1 of my cool new desk and I love it. I already feel more productive. I will be glad to answer any questions.

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Jules IKEAHacker "I am Jules, the engine behind IKEAHackers and the one who keeps this site up and running. My mission is to capture all the wonderful, inspiring, clever hacks and ideas for our much loved IKEA items".

Great design, built one last year. Now my wife wants one. But I think I’m going to hafta start looking for alternative sources for these great projects. Ikea is just not anything that resembles reliable as a materials source. There are several stores within 8 hours of me that have inventory on the legs. But they won’t ship to you unless it’s in the warehouse. So there’s 25 legs in stock 5 hours away in a Maryland store, but I can’t order 4 of them online? Really?? I’d have thought in this economy, they’d do whatever it takes to get my money… guess not.

The long adjustable table legs are the most expensive parts. Unfortunately, they’re what gives you the flexibility to adjust the desk to your height, after it is built. Which is especially important, I feel, if you’ve never used a standing desk before (which was my situation). The tabletop is fairly cheap (as it hollow). You could leave off the fancy shelf and improvise with anything you had handy.

Mr. Secret – ideally, your screen should be about an arms length away from your face, and the top of the screen should be in line with your eyes, so you’re looking down at your screen ever so slightly.

As for your keyboard, you want your arms to be bent at about a 90-degree angle for maximum comfort and the overall health of your arms and wrists. The great thing about the design above is that the legs are easily adjustable.

Here are some tips:
Keyboard Height should be the same as your elbow height bent at 90 degrees. I always assumed that it would be the tops of the keys, but it is far easier to raise a keyboard than lower it..

Monitor Height should be where the top of the monitor is 1-3″ below your eye height.

I just bout a $20 LACK coffee table and put it on top of my desk. It may be one or two inches too high, but it is an inexpensive way to test the waters of standing all day. I will try to tough it out so that I can hopefully burn some calories while working. I have my chair handy for a short sit down when my feet and legs are screaming for mercy.

Can anyone tell me how hard it is to get those brackets screwed in to the table top and shelf? Do you turn the shelf over and attach the little legs to that first? and then attach to the table top? do you drill pilot holes? Thanks for your help.

I never thought I would ever say anything like this: this looks to be cheaper in Canada. The legs retail for $20.00 each in Canada, and cost more than double that (36.00 €) in Germany! How is that even possible?

This desk was a great inspiration – I was going to build it exactly (except 59″ wide to fit my space) but realized it wouldn’t go high enough. I’m apparently taller than Martina! So: I bought a second identical Amon tabletop and 2 packs of 8″ Capita straight legs – and built a second (very low!) table with 5 legs to match and just placed it on top of the first. It’s terrific and the lower table acts as a nice shelf for stuff too.

To answer some of the questions from previous comments:

a) The Amon tops are hollow. After I realized this I fastened the 5th legs in back of each table with drywall-style fasteners and longer screws. If I had known the issue before I bought the tops I probably would have bought the other table tops (don’t know the name) which, though 3-4 times as expensive, are solid. Still, it isn’t an issue, it is more than strong enough on 4 legs to do the job of holding my laptop and 3 monitors and assorted accessories. The 5th legs are more for reducing wobbling than support.

2) The legs, hanging on the wall display in the store, do have a wobble. However, once you put weight on them – the table and whatever the table is holding – the wobble disappears.

3) Using the straight Capita legs the top table just rests on the bottom table, it isn’t fastened to it. No problem though – it is perfectly stable and doesn’t shift at all.

4) Total cost was $300 exactly including local taxes.

5) To stand on I added a 5/8″ “Cadillac” anti-fatigue mat from ULINE, and a small colorful braided run on top of that. Its extremely comfortable.

Brilliant… Just got back from IKEA with all the goods and am starting to build. Got 2 of the barstools mentioned for our kids to be able to sit together when using the computer — all in just under $300. Almost bought a $600 standing desk @ the Office Depot, which had almost no desk space… Thanks for this!

Thank you SO much for mentioning the Byske legs, I didn’t realize they existed. Thought the only ones IKEA had were too short, but these are perfect and I now have a standing workstation for my computer. My back will be thankful indeed. Now to get used to standing and drawing!

Just built mine, I picked a 4′ table top instead, same product line and a slightly smaller than 4′ top part for the monitor stand. This meant one less leg and one less Capita bracket set. This cuts $50+ off the price putting the whole package with chair around $200.

Great idea. I have the smaller Vika Amon table top. I bought four of the expandable legs this morning. Once assembled, the table itself is a little more wobbly than I would like, but I am not spending 600+ on a stand up desk (GeekDesk; cool, but too pricey). The official stand up desk that Ikea offers only seems to mount to a max height that won’t suit most people. It also has those extra shelves which I don’t find too appealing.

Maybe the wobbly aspect is why Ikea officially doesn’t recommend it in their paper materials. However, the pre-drilled holes match up perfectly, so no extra drilling is required.

For those concerned about the hollowed or honeycombed Wika Amon, I work for a Custom Closet and Storage designer/builder and installer. Just about ever city has one, if you were to approach your local custom closet place you could get whatever size wood desk top you need. You could get wood, save money and get a finished plywood or save even more money and get a compressed wood board. You will have move choice of colors and they work great with the Ikea hardware (legs, screws, etc.) I just picked up a piece of finished plywood 79″ x 36″ and it’s 1″ thick and started building my desk and didn’t cost me more the $33.

As a chiropractor, I commend you on doing something I try to ingrain in everyone I treat that works at a desk. I stand all day walking room to room and never feel tired, in fact, quite the opposite. Your heart is working much harder to power your legs all day and it improves your health and longevity. Even working out after sitting all day has no effect on longevity, but standing does.

I designed this same desk today from IKEA parts, even the second level of shelf and then I found your website and it had exactly what I wanted with instructions! You rock! Great minds as they say….

For those people who were speculating on mounting the legs to unreinforced sections of the top I would offer this suggestion – Glue a 6″x6″ piece of 1/2″ or thicker plywood to the underside of the table and attach the leg to that. Make sure there is no finish where you are gluing the ply(sand it off) and use plenty of glue and the bond will be very strong.

How did you mount the angled capita brackets to the Amon top? IKEA didn’t recommend this because the Amon material is weak and hollow. I intend on reinforcing the shelf to the wall anyway though because I plan on eventually having a 3×24″ monitor setup and weight becomes a concern. The angled brackets make the desk look very attractive as well.

Martina, could you please give more specifics as to how your husband put it all together? Is he experienced with woodwork or can anyone put this thing together relatively easily? I have purchased all the parts but I’m concerned about the difficulty before I begin.

The Vika Byske legs aren’t supposed to be used with the Amon top either, according to IKEA… Did your husband do anything special to make them play nice with each other? Eager for your response… thank you!

Did you mount the Vika Amon tabletop to the wall that your desk is up against, or does it stand alright on itself? The legs are somewhat wobbly where the telescoping part comes out, presumably because the Vika Byske legs are meant for a wall-mounted tabletop.

To cut out the rear legs…. Nail/screw a 2×4 onto the wall and then lay the desktop onto the wall-mounted 2×4. I would use an adhesive on the 2×4 between it and the wall AND between it and the desktop to make it sturdy!

I started this project too, and realized that the Wika Amon is 90% cardboard honeycomb inside when I cut the 2m table to the needed 1.5m.

To answer whoever asked about fixing the legs on honeycomb, know that the table comes pre-holed where you’re supposed to put the legs and that specific part is reinforced.

In my case, though, as I cut the table and put the legs in new spots, the screws are fixed only on the light sheet of wood(?) that constitutes the visible part of the table. As I put the table in a corner, the table doesn’t move much, but I wouldn’t trust it if it had a chance to be moved sideways by accident. I guess the 2 legs screwed in the honeycomb would rip the wood apart.

@Anonymous RE: Tools used – We just used a power drill@Anonymous RE: Ikea web order – I went to the store, but I had issues with the site in the past.@Jerm – The wall bracket are tiny and I would be afraid that it will fall down holding such a wide desk and my mac and monitor. I guess it depends what you will have on your desk.Martina – the owner of the awesome standing desk

Nice looking project. First time trying to buy from Ikea. Is the website always a problem like this? I click on the ‘buy online’ button & I get a loading widget that never goes away. Isolated incident?

As the legs come with wall mounts, and the biggest cost is 5 legs, I’m wondering if it would work in a wall mounted configuration with 2 legs? You would obviously have to test the ideal height for a standing desk thoroughly, but for $90 cheaper, it might be worth it.

@ Brando – the $29 was cost of the chair which accommodated the height vs. having a $600 motor to move it down to a standard seat height. Not cost of desk.$260 is reasonable and might even be able to be done for less with different materials. Great idea!

Hello all,today is day 10 of my standing desk and I am never going back. I feel faster, more productive and I like the fact that I can walk away from my monitor and review my designs from the distance. The biggest difference is after lunch, I no longer feel like taking a nap around 2 pm.My husband was initially very concerned with the sturdiness of the legs, but once we saw them at Ikea, he was no longer worried. These legs feel very solid, they are heavy as well.To answer your questions:@Dax Sauerwein – thank you for a shout out to my husband@Shawn – I went to Tampa store – they were running low on legs 2 weeks ago. RE: Vika Amon in birch – I had the desktop since 2 years ago, I did notice that they no longer offer it in birch. We varnished it to make it last longer.@Sean Young and @Damon – I am 5’5″ and my table legs are at 39″ high, they can go to 42″@Anonymous who calculated the cost – thank you@Anonymous RE: Vika Amon table top vs Vika Byske Table top – Vika Byske was simply not wide enough as an office desk for me. Right now my table supports all the items that you can see on the picture, 4 capita brackets, Lack shelf, 15″ mac book pro and 24″ monitor. My husband says that as long as you are careful to tighten the screws and not create holes like with a power drill on high setting, the large number of screws makes it very sturdy. Since the weight is distributed, it handles typical office equipment and then some.Thank you for all your comments and ideas!Good luck with your standing desk.Martina

My understanding is that Vika Amon table tops are hollow / honeycomb in the center. How did you go about mounting the Vika Byske legs to the Vika Amon table, and why did you go that route instead of the Vika Byske table top? Does it seem like the table top can support very much weight?

I’m with Sean Young… I’m 6′ 5″ and I’ve been looking for a similar set up. I would love to know what the height is from floor to bottom of table? and are the legs fully expanded or do they still have room to rise? Awesome work!

Good, stuff. Planned on building similar next week. I wanted to see what the monitor would look like (had the same plan of using Capita) and I like how it looks. Did you go to the Orlando Store to get the parts?

Also, since when do they offer Vika Amon in birch? I’ve only ever seen them in black or white.

the one and only reason for the ikea workers to have a standing desk at their working place, not at home, is not for their own choice, but only not to look lazy to us buyers and customers. they have to look dinamic and ready for the customer’s questions…

this is a good idea.. and looks great. one note though: we had a vika byske leg under the solid pine rounded tabletop, at bar height. after 3 years of use, the byske leg collapsed down to its minimum height– the screw threads on the inside, which keep it expanded, must have been stripped off! so, you might want to eventually think about adding another brace to support the weight!

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